Matthew McConaughey Almost Played Joel on ‘The Last of Us’

It’s onerous to think about The Last of Us with out Pedro Pascal, however cocreator Craig Mazin revealed that there was one other contender for the function of Joel — Matthew McConaughey.

The Oscar winner, 53, was rumored as a doable candidate earlier than Pascal, 48, landed the function in 2021. Mazin, 52, confirmed the hypothesis throughout a current interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.

“I did talk to Matthew,” Mazin recalled. “I can’t say that it was a series [of conversations]. It was more of like, ‘Hey! Here’s something to talk about.’”

Mazin additionally addressed previous rumors that Mahershala Ali was additionally thought-about for the HBO drama’s lead, saying, “I actually never talked to Mahershala.”

According to Mazin, he and cocreator Neil Druckmann — who wrote the online game on which the present relies — had been all the time keen on Pascal, however he wasn’t initially obtainable to movie one other TV present. Pascal presently stars because the titular character on The Mandalorian, and his movie roster is often fairly full.

“Pedro was on our list from the start. We were told that he was unavailable,” Mazin defined. “And then as we were floundering about a little bit, I got a call from his agent who said, ‘You know, he actually might be available.’”

Pascal and costar Bella Ramsey had been formally confirmed to play Joel and Ellie, respectively, in February 2021. Fans lastly received to see their performances practically two years later when The Last of Us premiered in January, changing into HBO’s second-largest debut ever. The community renewed the sequence for season 2 lower than two weeks after the premiere.

While Mazin was sure Pascal was the best selection for Joel, the actor admitted earlier this yr that he was initially nervous to simply accept the half. “It became very, very clear very quickly how much people loved the game and the experience of playing the game,” Pascal instructed Entertainment Tonight in January. “That was scary because you can get really into a book. You can get really into a series. And this is the next level of getting into an immersive experience of playing these characters.”

Though he is aware of followers of the sport are eagerly awaiting to see how the present adapts the story, Pascal himself hasn’t performed. “It’s so sad, I haven’t any skill. I tried, you know,” he confessed to British GQ in April 2022. “And then it was only a matter of minutes before I had to hand it over to my nephew. It really takes a specific kind of skill, and I don’t have it.”